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Rockies Acquire Jason Grilli, Jorge de la Rosa

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The Rockies and Tigers made a swap today.  The Rockies get 31 year-old pitcher Jason Grilli, while the Tigers receive 22 year-old pitcher Zach Simons.

Grilli has served as a mop-up man for the Tigers the past two years, eating bullpen innings at a mediocre ERA.  The Rox may have been drawn to his typically decent groundball rates.

Simons appears to be a long shot to reach the bigs; he wasn’t among the Rockies’ top 30 prospects.

The Rox also completed their long-rumored deal for lefty Jorge de la Rosa.  He’ll jump right into the rotation.  The 27 year-old is an interesting arm when healthy.

Retirement A Possibility For Sheffield

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Because of shoulder woes, 39 year-old DH Gary Sheffield hasn’t hit well since July of last year.  He’s an elite slugger when he’s on but terrible when he’s off.  In the midst of a third cortisone shot, Sheffield suggested that retirement is not out of the question.   He’s dealing with all kinds of pain and won’t undergo another surgery.  Retirement sounds like a worst-case scenario though.  After all, he is set to earn $14MM in ’09.

If Sheff retires or hits the 60-day DL, talk of Barry Bonds or Mike Piazza could heighten.  The Tigers, however, have consistently denied interest in Bonds.  They could simply shift Carlos Guillen to DH and Brandon Inge to third if Sheffield is out of the picture. 

Cabrera-Guillen Position Switch Upsets Inge

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We haven’t discussed the Miguel Cabrera–Carlos Guillen position swap here on MLBTR – on the surface it doesn’t appear to have hot stove implications.

However, Ken Rosenthal heard from a Major League source that Brandon Inge is "livid" that Cabrera was moved off third yet Inge still doesn’t have a starting gig.

Inge, 31 in May, is off to a decent start this year with a .246/.357/.439 line in 20 games.  His versatility is especially valuable for the Tigers, who have multiple injury-prone starters.  Trading Inge now only makes sense if a respectable reliever comes in return (even if $6.2MM is pricey for a supersub).

Bazardo Clears Waivers

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23 year-old Tigers pitcher Yorman Bazardo cleared waivers; he’ll head to Triple A.

Bazardo has already spent time in the Florida and Seattle organizations as well.  Why is he unwanted?  His strikeout rates have been weak in the minors, but his control is solid.  Baseball America seems fairly fond of him, though they note he’ll probably top out in middle relief.

Snyder Accepts Minor League Assignment

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MONDAY: Snyder has cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple A, as suggested by Sarah Green back on April 5th.

FRIDAY: According to Jeff Horrigan of the Boston Herald, the Tigers, Rays, and Phillies have interest in recently-designated pitcher Kyle Snyder.

Snyder, now 30 years old, was the seventh overall pick by the Royals in the 1999 draft.  He was tolerable as a middle reliever for the Red Sox last year, though his control was poor.  He had two labrum surgeries in ’03 and ’04, and that injury reoccurred in ’05.  The Royals designated him the following year, and the Sox claimed him off waivers. 

Here’s a look at Snyder’s pitch type data from last year.  Most projection systems predict an ERA around 4.80 this year for him.

By the way, the Red Sox will also be designating Bryan Corey tonight.

Despite Tiger Woes, Bonds Not An Option

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John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle addresses the possibility of adding Barry Bonds to a Tigers team with a struggling offense out of the gate.  The team is currently 2-9 with a league-low 33 runs scored.

GM Dave Dombrowski responded to concerns raised about the offensive production thus far with his best Alfred E. Neuman impersonation, saying, "What!  Me worry?"

"If we hit the same all year, I’d be the most surprised I’ve ever been in my career," he said.  On signing Bonds, Dombrowski replied, "Our everyday lineup is set.  It’s not even a situation with us."

All this hand wringing over the offense, while understandable, seems misdirected.  The real concern has to be the pitching staff.  As Shea points out, the starting staff had just one quality start in the team’s first nine games.  With or without adding the recently DFA’d Kyle Snyder, Detroit should be much more concerned about solidifying its rotation and relief corps.  That offense is going to produce.  But pinning all hopes on it while neglecting the team’s arms could lead to a lot of disappointed fans.

Posted by Matt Birt

Recently DFA’d: Corey, Bazardo, Jimerson

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Anyone looking for a relief pitcher or an outfielder? The Red Sox, Tigers, and Mariners designated a few for assignment yesterday. Let’s see what they’re leaving on the table.

  • Yorman Bazardo, a 23-year-old who actually pitched pretty well last year, was curiously designated by Detroit.
  • The Red Sox designated 34-year-old reliever Bryan Corey to make room for Mike Timlin, who got the loss last night in his first appearance since coming off the DL. You’d figure Bazardo would get a lot more interest than Corey.
  • Finally, the Mariners have designated 28-year-old OF Charlton Jimerson after just one plate appearance. It was just the ninth of his career. It seems his .901 OPS in the minors last year, mostly with AA, was an outlier.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski

With Willis Injured, Is Snyder Detroit-Bound?

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Tigers lefty Dontrelle Willis didn’t even make it out of the first inning last night, leaving the game with a hyperextended right knee. The bullpen kept the game close, and the vaunted yet under-performing Tigers offense carried the team to victory. However, Willis’s knee adds greater concern to an already shaky rotation. Only Jeremy Bonderman has gone over 6.0 IP in a single start this year. Do these woes, combined with the Willis injury, mean that recently-DFA’d Kyle Snyder could be wearing orange soon?

Yesterday, Tim told us that the Tigers were among two other teams interested in the 30-year-old righty. The Phillies and the Rays are the others. Whether that would be for the rotation or the bullpen we don’t know. The Tigers could certainly use him as a swingman of sorts, as their bullpen also poses a problem.

I wasn’t able to find any word on how long this injury will keep Willis off the mound. If it’s just one or even two starts, the Tigers might not be desperate to make a move. Then again, the Tigers could stand to add some depth to the rotation and the bullpen in any case. Not sure if they are so keen on Snyder as an answer, though.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski. Please, email me rumors.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In

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Bunch of random topics so let’s just get to it and see what it being said in the Blogosphere…

  • Big League Stew talks to Bless You Boys about the idea of Barry Bonds signing with the Tigers. BYB argues against signing Bonds noting that the Tigers already have a bunch of slow players (base cloggers?) and what they really need is some more speed in the lineup…Although we keep hearing about collusion and have not heard any numbers bandied about, Bonds has always made it very clear how much he values the almighty dollar. Does anybody else think that Bonds would already be in uniform if he had come out said he would play 2008 for $3-5MM plus incentives? The baggage is what it is, but teams might find it easier to deal with it at a price Bonds is not likely to accept.
  • Rockin’ The Red takes a look at the five Cardinals that are most likely to be traded during the season…Chris Duncan is an interesting name on the list. With all the outfielders that the Cards have, Duncan is a solid bat that is likely to be a Super-2 at the end of the year.
  • The Yankees: Minors to Majors looks at the pending free agents for the Yankees and concludes that there is plenty of compensation picks to be had giving the Yankees plenty of flexibility to sign a high-end free agent like C.C. Sabathia…Of course, that is assuming the Yankees would let something like draft pick compensation stand in the way of signing a free agent. Not likely.
  • Wrigleyville23 has had enough of the Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs media reports…Who?
  • The Bronx Zoo would love to see Nick Johnson back in a Yankees’ uniform but notes that Dmitri Young may not be a dependable replacement for the Nats.
  • Mets Fever notes that eight players have moved among the Brewers, Mets and Nats since this offseason…Let’s just say that the Brewers did not get the best of that "three-way trade".
  • One writer at DRays Bay is hoping the Rays and M’s can re-engage talks for Edwin Jackson…The M’s may be interested once again after being two-hit by Jackson yesterday, but maybe the price just went up.
  • One name that kept popping up recently as a possible trade piece in the near future was Rich Harden. Well, Harden has once again found himself on the DL and Athletics Nation is not taking it well.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

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